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Theresa May

In her first major speech on foreign policy, she will stress that Brexit sees Britain "step up to a new global role", not retreat from the world, and she will lay out her determination to strike new trade deals "with old allies and new partners alike".

In her speech in the City of London the Prime Minister is expected to say that Britain's Brexit vote in June and Donald Trump's election win in the US show how people are demanding change - and that politicians must respond.

Spelling out an ambitious vision for Britain's future, she will say that Britain is uniquely placed to provide the leadership the world needs, "not standing inflexibly, refusing to change and still fighting the battles of the past, but adapting to the moment, evolving our thinking and seizing the opportunities ahead.

"That is the kind of leadership we need today. And I believe that it is Britain’s historic global opportunity to provide it.

"So often over our long history, this country has set the template for others to follow. We have so often been the pioneer, the outrider, that has acted to usher in a new idea or approach.

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Britain can, she will say, be the strongest global champion for free trade as the best way to lift people out of poverty and for the role businesses play in creating jobs and wealth and supporting society.

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Mrs May will say that Brexit and Donald Trump's victory reflect people's demand for change

But, underlining her strong message at home about the need to help workers and communities who have lost out in globalisation and crack down on corporate irresponsibility and tax-dodging, she will say the UK must also ensure more is done to ensure everyone shares in the prosperity that comes from free markets and to tackle the minority of businesses who appear to want to work to a "different set of rules".

Britain would also "show that our departure from the European Union is not, as some people have wrongly argued, Britain stepping back from the world, but an example of how a free, flexible, ambitious country can step up to a new global role in which alongside the traditional trading blocs, agile nation states like Britain can trade freely with others according to what’s in their own best interests and those of their people", she will say.

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The PM will stress that Brexit sees Britain 'step up to a new global role'

"This is a new direction, a new approach to managing the forces of globalisation so that they work for all, and it is the course on which the government I lead has embarked."

She is expected to vow that as long as Britain is in the EU it will continue to lead the way in pressing for an ambitious EU trade agenda.

"As we leave the EU, we will also use the strength and size of our economy to lead the way in getting out into the world and doing new business with old allies and new partners alike."

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Mrs May will lay out her determination to strike new trade deals with old and new partners alike

Amid fears that Mrs May's interventionist approach and warning that unscrupulous bosses will no longer be allowed to ride roughshod over their employees and tax laws betrays a hostile new attitude, she will insist: "The Government I lead is unequivocally and unashamedly pro-business.

"We will do everything we can to make the UK outside the EU the most attractive place for businesses to invest and grow.

"But in return, it is right to ask business to play its part in ensuring we build a country that works for everyone, and that British business, which is so often on the frontline of our engagement with the world and whose actions so often project our values in the world, is seen not just to do business but to do that business in the right way.

"Asking business to work with Government to play its part is profoundly pro-business, because it is fundamental to retaining faith in capitalism and free markets."